Opportunities for Africa's entrepreneurs

On the 28th October, the Tony Elumelu Entrepreneurship Forum will take place. Launched in 2015, the Tony Elumelu Foundation’s Entrepreneurship Programme (TEEP) is the largest African philanthropic initiative devoted to entrepreneurship. It aims identify and empower 10,000 African entrepreneurs, create a million jobs and add up to $10 billion in revenues to Africa's economy within 10 years.

The upcoming forum is part of this plan. The three-day event in Lagos, Nigeria presents the opportunity for 1,000 entrepreneurs to network and forge partnerships.

Clearly, the Tony Elumelu Foundation recognises Africa's huge entrepreneurial potential. We take a look at other schemes/organisations across the continent that champion Africa's entrepeneurial spirit.

African Entrepreneur Collective

African Entrepreneur Collective is a small team of staff from Rwanda, the US and the UK. It was founded in 2012 by Julienne Oyler and Sara Leedom – two social entrepreneurs with experience of living and working in Africa. AEC’s program supports existing entrepreneurs. These programmes include Inkomoko (signature business development program), African Innovation Prize (for students), AEC Rwanda Trustee (low-cost loan funding), THINK (the Tigo-backed tech incubator), and SPRING (an East African accelerator focused on innovations for girls). Partners include the UN Refugee Agency.

Africa’s Young Entrepreneurs

“If you can achieve this much alone, how much more can we achieve together?”, AYE’s website reads. The organisation aims to empower young entrepreneurs across Africa by creating platforms that facilitate intra-trade on the continent. AYE holds a yearly Networking with Giants conference, in which youngsters network and close business deals. The organisation even has its own entrepreneurial "reality show”. At present, AYE has 12,637,438 members.

British Council’s Entrepreneurial Africa programme

The British Council runs the Entrepreneurial Africa programme, a series of enterprise challenges across Ghana, Nigeria, Senegal, South Africa and Sudan. Since 2013, the programme has been broadcast on TV and online. It has engaged 12,000 young entrepreneurs.  Alongside building links within the continent, Entrepreneurial Africa offers ways for young Africans to connect with British organisations.
 

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